One Bullet Short
by Igna the Fire Sage
Summary: When drones resurface into space by taking hostage of the Gemini team, a Rebellion awakens to fight them. But the drones have a new and deadly plan...will the Rebellion be enough? -PG13 for language and violence-rnChapter 6 posted!
1. The Beginning

**One Bullet Short**

A warm fire flickered on a cold night at Goldwood, a Tribal planet, when the first of Mizar's drones appeared on the dark sky. That fateful evening began the adventure of the Jet Force Gemini. Long after it begun, it ended on Mizar's desperate retreat, a spaceship cleverly disguised as an asteroid. Mizar's reign of terror ended, and all drone bases were destroyed and left to rot. The universe was back at peace, the Tribals had been freed, and Mizar's once prominent palace was forgotten.

To forget Mizar was a big mistake, however, as the Gemini team was soon to discover. At the edge of known space, a vessel that was supposedly evacuated began to grow again. Drones crawled out from its crevices and began to multiply their numbers until the vessel was once again filled with life. Now they began their plan to regain control of the other bases, and ultimately the universe...

5:00 PM, Rith Essa Tribal Mines

Ish, an adult tribal, stood at the entrance of the Rith Essa mines—his mind drifted through various unpleasant memories in these mines. After the Tribals were freed from Mizar's clutches, the mines quickly went bankrupt and died out. The mole brothers almost disappeared. Who knew where they were? Ish didn't know, and he certainly didn't care. Preferably twenty feet under the soil he stood on, he thought with a smirk. His entire family had died from exhaustion in the mining life. He was sad to remember it when he looked at these mines—but at the same time, he loved seeing how it was now as deserted and as dead as his family was. Without even noticing, he spat at the door in disgust.

Suddenly there was a voice from the trees around him. It was Al, a drone airborne squadron robot who escaped the Ichor base while Mizar was still alive. Al was recaptured by the mole brothers to monitor the mines where he befriended Ish. "Ish, I've been looking for you!"

"What is it?" Ish said, turning his head towards Al.

"The Union has declared that there was a drone vessel attacking the Gemini team!" Al flew with such excitement that he skimmed a tree, barely noticing it.

"What?!" Ish dropped his jaws, staring at Al while he zoomed to and fro.

"I-it it's true!" it almost sounded like Al was gasping for air, even though he was a robot. "A Union scout ship spotted a vessel with Mizar's emblem in combat with the Gemini ship! They couldn't do much, they were a scout ship and—oh my god, Mizar's frikkin' back!!!" Al continued on with the story, but it was so jumbled that Ish couldn't make any sense of it.

"Al, CALM DOWN." Ish yelled, almost reaching out to hit the loud robot. "We don't know this for a fact, do we? And besides, the Jet Force has been attacked and gotten out of it before."

"Yeah, but—"

"Al! Get a grip!" and this time he actually did reach out to hit Al. "If you're really that concerned about this, tell the Rebellion to meet us at our Ichor base tomorrow, this time."

"...ah, but- uh -oh- agh -right...." Al said, and quickly flew back into the trees from whence he came. Once he was out of sight, Ish let out a deep sigh and leaned against the mine wall. _Damn, the drones are back...what now?_ He wasn't nearly as fearless as he had acted to Al. What if they reached the Tribals again? What if the mines reopened? What if—this time—the Jet Force Gemini wouldn't be able to triumph?

5:00 PM, Ichor Rebellion Base

Underground a small group gathered around a circular table. Ish, Al, three more Tribals and two humans occupied small wooden and chipped chairs around the table. This was a small portion of the Rebellion, a group of escaped drone prisoners. After the fall of Mizar, they were silenced—but now, with this news, they had been summoned to their very first base: under ground a corner of Ichor, possibly the largest Drone base existing.

"So, the Union has announced the activity of a drone vessel." Ish began. There were faint nods and grunts of annoyance among the table as he spoke. "If the Jet Force Gemini is truly out of action, it may very well be up to us. The Union is useless in times of war...they take too long to decide things. You are the finest of the Rebellion. I've been thinking about this for some time...and I've got some missions that could help this situation, if you're willing."

"Spill it." Flames, a male human at the table, said. He had red hair that reached far down his neck and forehead. Even his eyes were as red as fire, thus his name.

Ish stared at him in annoyance for being so blunt, but said nothing about it. "Flames, you and Robbin will lead a patrol of the deserted palace." Flames and a younger tribal across the table nodded in confirmation. "Neonis and Lanna, you'll—"

"Call me Shine Bear." a female human interrupted.

"Sigh...right. Neonis and...Shine.... Bear.... you'll work on disabling the neglected bases. The major bases such as Ichor and the Spawn Ship have been trashed, but...there are still multiple ones intact. Get to them and remove them from this situation. Clear?" Shine Bear and Neonis, a young adult tribal nodded, and Neonis held his hand to his forehead in salute. "Me and Al will go back to Goldwood and help protect the Tribals, if necessary."

"What? Goldwood? But...drones might come!" Al quivered.

"That's...the point, Al." Ish muttered.

"But..."

"Al!"

"Right."

"Okay, that's it. Arm up with your weapon of choice from this base, get some sleep if you want. You have tomorrow to move out." Ish finished. "I'll get more of the Rebels to accompany you all." and with that, got up and left the table, climbed up a ladder into ground level, and took off with Al in no more than a few minutes. He had laid his full trust on the others, and only time would tell if that was a mistake...


	2. Darkness Follows

**CHAPTER 2: BEGIN**

Mizar's Deserted Palace 9:00 AM, Day 2

Flame's one manned ship arrived at the bricked pyramid at the center of the once dangerous palace. As soon as he got out of his ship, he could only stare at his surroundings. The once pure golden bricks were now crumbled and infested with moss and rust and who the hell knew what. The once towering pyramid was now half its original size, with clumps of broken stone at its foot. Any hieroglyphics of Mizar and his drones were now completely wiped out. Flames almost thought of it as a pity that such a magnificent sight, as dangerous as it was, had decimated like this.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rockets on Robbin's ship. He waited for its blunt noise as it hit to the ground, the swish of moving air as the door opened, and Robbin was already by his side.

"So...d'ya think any drones will come here?" he said eagerly.

"Well, I think you're missing the point. We're hoping they DON'T come here."

"Aw, you're no fun! Too bad the Gemini's finished off Mizar before I could enter the fray! Then he'd be sorry!" he yelled, almost like he was announcing it to an audience that wasn't there.

Flame peered down at the tribal standing next to him. The thing was much shorter than him, but that didn't mean much in Robbin's eyes. For Christ's sake, he already had a machine gun in his hand! As soon as Flame noticed this, he jerked his head back in surprise, trying to muffle a grunt shock.

"Damn, the other rebels haven't even gotten here! Put away your gun!"

"Bleh, what's it to you? I'm just...aware, that's all. Yeah, _aware_!" And with Robbin's words, Flame let out a deep sigh to which he chose to do nothing about but snort and look down at the ground.

More rockets came into their ears. This time it was the sound of dozens—Flames was instantly relieved—the reinforcements would surely give him space from Robbin, who was a major pain. _Why'd Ish ever assign him to anything in the first place_? Flames turned around to see the many ships of rebellion members, but in vain. What he thought was the noise of rebel ships was more like one giant vessel—and more to the point, a vessel with Mizar's emblem.

"Shit! Robbin, get to your ship!" he yelled as soon as his eyes hit the vessel.

He didn't think Robbin had turned around and seen what he had, but that was not so. "No way. We'll never get away in our ships! Look at the size of that thing!"

"Well, what're we gonna do? Fight a vessel full of drones by ourselves? They took down the Gemini team! We don't stand a chance!" he replied, sounding angry.

"We can buy time—hopefully enough for the reinforcements to arrive--"

"You know, that's the only smart thing you've said all day." Flames said, grabbing Robbin by the arm and running. He sprinted to the first thing he saw—the tunnels. Now the ceilings had collapsed and the walls were cluttered with rubble, but they would provide good enough defense for now. They heard the sound of an object hitting the ground behind them and began to increase their pace. Shortly before they reached the sanction of the moldy labyrinth, they saw lasers hitting the walls they were running to.

"Crap, they're already shooting! Robbin, ready your gun!" he knew saying this wasn't necessary, for the tribal already had his machine gun out, but he said it anyway. Flames himself had brandished a tri-rocket launcher, the most deadly of weapons in his arsenal. With the gun in his left hand, he grabbed a grenade with his right and threw it behind them.

It felt like forever before they reached the walls of the palace tunnels. They never stopped to turn around, never slowed down, not even when they heard a bellowing screech of beetle drones along with a grenade sounding off. Finally, they reached a door to the inside of the outer palace wall: the lobby. It was said that it was guarded by magma that only Juno could ever cross.

And there it was. Flames and Robbin stopped abruptly behind the pond of lava staring back at them. Not a sound of dread escaped from either's lips. All they did was turn to face the sound of footsteps and hold up their guns. "Still think you're ready to enter the fray, Robbin?" Flames said, trying to take a crack at a joke at such a dark time. But even the young tribal gave no reaction to it. He only held up his gun and appeared straight ahead. His fingers wrapped around the trigger, ready for the second of that blue head to look around the doorway and at Robbin. Ready for the second they met what occupied the drone vessel.

And finally, after agonizing seconds, that second came.

"The Peak", 10:00 AM, Day 2

Shine Bear lived her whole life with Tribals. She was left on Gem Quarry, a tribal colony, as a baby. As far as she was concerned, she **was** a tribal. Feathers stuck out from her red and green bandanna that wrapped around her forehead. She wore brown garments, reaching from her neck to her knees. Other humans treated her strangely, but she never cared. Tribals never minded her race; they treated her like their own and took care of her. She therefore considered drones as a direct threat to her family, and intended to wipe them out permanently.

Neonis, a tribal of about 18 winters age, had lived a normal life. His family was never affected in any way by the drones: he also lived in Gem Quarry, a planet that managed to escape the drone's path of destruction. He had only become involved with the rebellion when an asteroid threatened their existence. The Gemini team showed up, of course, and helped to save them from such a fate. He then decided to travel in any way necessary, to Ichor, where an underground rebellion base resided. He was, of course, captured at this foolish mission, only to be rescued by the Rebellion itself. He found it ironic and fitting at the same time.

"So, brother, what do you suspect has become of this place?" Shine Bear inquired, to start a conversation on such a barren place.

Neonis looked off the cliff they stood on, and forward to the building in the distance. As he began walking, he replied, "I doubt there's anything left...the Union took care of all the base's population."

"...Right." Shine Bear replied, still a bit doubtful. She held in her hands what she called shiners, devices that created a mad amount of light when thrown. Neonis took a stare at what she considered 'weapons' before turning his head back to the building. _Geez, what a nutcase..._

When they walked into the building, they found a trap door and a computer set. This consisted of several monitors and computer towers that were attached to the wall. In the center of the room was a trap door, nailed shut. Shine Bear stayed by the entrance door while Neonis walked over to the monitors and pressed his finger to one. They were touch pads, apparently, as he slid his finger from one screen to another trying to find a way to shut down the system.

He mumbled under his breath as he was denied again and again to deactivate the base's power. Finally, he turned around to Shine Bear, obviously aggravated. "The system won't shut down. We need to take out the security wires." He paused, and pointed to several circuits trailing to the trapdoor and then slipping under it. "I'll need you to go down that trapdoor and take them all out so that I can proceed to take down the power, okay?"

"Um...okay..." Shine Bear hesitated, then slowly walked towards the trapdoor and tried to move it. Soon she discovered it was locked tight. "Urgh...it won't open!" she said, stepping back. Without saying anything, Neonis took out his pistol and shot the edges of the metal trap door in seconds. Smoke emerged from the bullet holes leaving a hissing sound. Shine jumped back from the trap door as the bullets hit the door, startled. She then opened the trap door and proceeded to slip down with the wires.

"I—I see them! About five or six wires!" Neonis could hear her voice from the darkness of the tunnel underneath him.

"Great!" he yelled back, crouching over the hole. "Now take out your gun and destroy them all!"

"Um—o-okay!" came her voice, followed by four consecutive bullet shots. Then there was silence. Neonis knew something was wrong, when there were five wires and only four shots taken.

"Shine? Shine, you down there?" he yelled. Silence. "SHINE?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

The shriek was so loud and sudden that Neonis accidentally fell down the trap door by surprise. He landed chest first on the tunnel ground with a grunt of pain. "Shine?! Shine, what's wrong?!" he called out. He could barely see five feet in front of him. He did, however, see five wires—four of which had been severed by gunshots. He got up and walked blindly through the dark tunnel.

Then he saw light. Lots and lots of light—it almost hurt his eyes. He instantly ran towards it, as ignorant as a moth to the flame. And what he found was a bruised Shine Bear laying on the ground with a shiner in one hand, already set off. The light was so brutal his eyes began to ache, and he put up his arms to try and shield his eyes. "Shine, what happened?"

"I-it...I heard something down here!" she said nervously. And suddenly, Neonis's worried expression was replaced with an aggravated one.

"That's it?"

"I swear! Something was crawling!"

"Uh-huh. Look, just destroy the remaining wire and we'll leave." he turned around, away from the light, and headed back from where he came. Shine Bear quickly looked around the hallway, got up, and trailed after Neonis anxiously. On their way out, she fired the remaining wire, and began up the ladder behind Neonis. There was a flicker of light as the remaining wire was cut, but the power began to circulate again.

"Right. Now I can deactivate this cruddy place and we can move on." Neonis muttered under his breath, so soft that he didn't expect Shine to hear it. She apparently did, as she grunted in approval, all too ready to leave this place. Neonis walked back to the monitors where he pressed the screens a series of times.

POWER

:OFF

CONFIRM

Finally, he pressed the center most computer monitor, and the light flickered, and then finally went out. Neonis walked to the door, and motioned the nervous Shine to follow. He walked just another step before he turned around, got out his pistol, and shot the computer towers several times, and the center monitor once. He honestly didn't find it necessary at all—but he did it nonetheless.

They then reached their ships and took off without any second thought. Neonis had decided they would head to 'The Spaceship' and disable that before reporting back to Ichor. Regardless of what Shine thought, there would be nothing to it at all—or that was his thought.

For while Neonis and Shine headed to their next destination, all was not well at The Peak. In the dark building where the power was shut off, the monitors themselves flickered light. Although the overhead light stayed off, the monitors came back to life.

SEND

SPACESHIP

REBELLION MEMBERS IN MOTION TO BASE

:SEND

Then, like wildfire, the same message repeated itself on every monitor, without end.

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLEPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET PROJECT OBULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTPRCT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJT ONE BLLET SHORPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJCT ONE BULLET SHORT TPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

**CHAPTER 2: END**


	3. Neonis's Alarm

**CHAPTER 3: BEGIN**

**Goldwood 4:00 PM, Day 4**

It had been 3 days since he had seen the rebels he sent out. He lay on a tribal bed that consisted of a roughly sown mattress and some furs, sound asleep. A wristband armed with a telephone and radar suddenly began to ring, so loud that it disrupted his sleep and caused him to roll off his bed.

He clumsily got back onto the floor and looked at his wrist, still half asleep. His name was Ish, and he was the leader of the Rebellion. As he tried to force his eyes open, the device on his arm called out to him.

"ISH!"

Ish's head moved back from the yell. His face came back to the watch, and he attempted to reply, which came out as a slight mumble. "Mmm...yeh...?"

"Ish, this is urgent!" the sound was Neonis, who shared the same device on his wrist. "The drones are—"his voice was abruptly interrupted by static. _Typical. These shitty machines can't get anything right..._ Ish thought as he shook his arm around, as if to brush the static off. Still too asleep to understand what was going on.

"—Short! You have to report this to the unio—"more static.

"...Mm-hm...did you call--me short...?"

"Ish! Get the rebels to the spaceship NOW! There's--"

"I dunno...I'm tired..."

"Ish, for Christ's sake, WAKE UP!!!"

"Wha...?"

"Just listen! The drones are------- - - - - -technology with----------project! It's housed in the-------Get rebels over now! --------------------"And with that, the static took over completely. Ish, still in a daze, held his arm to his face, trying to hear. Still static. As he moved his arm away from his ears and was about to turn it off, he thought he heard lasers sounding off and the screech of a termite, or ant, or what's-it-called. _...Neonis takes things too seriously...._ was his last thought before he slid back into bed and a deep sleep.

**The 'Spaceship" 4:00 AM, Day 5**

It had been early in the morning that Ish woke up, now fully aware, and had remembered the strange message given to him by Neonis. Now suddenly scared of what was to come, he quickly phoned up the Rebellions to report to the Spaceship immediately. As soon as he finished this, he sprinted outside after taking his guns to meet his ship and take off, where he throttled to the place Neonis told him to come to. Ish didn't take in everything Neonis had said—lots of it was muffled by a deep static, but he heard enough to know that he had to get to Spaceship with heavy reinforcements.

Ish arrived first at the ship. He landed on a floor that had been exposed by a giant hole existing on the base since even before the Gemini team screwed Mizar over. Directly in front of him, not a couple yards more, started a narrow hallway filled with darkness. He thought he heard an unpleasant scraping of metal inside, but dismissed it as a hallucination of fear. Still, he couldn't help but think that something would lunge at him savagely and with little effort take off his head. He got lost in that thought, and when he awoke from it, shook his head and realized that he had unconsciously slipped out his pistol from its strap.

When the sound of descending ships filled the air around him, he almost jumped into the hallway. Doors opened, and out came other rebels—humans, Tribals, and the occasional airborne unit accompanying someone. All together, there was about fifteen or twenty of them, all armed with their favorite weapons.

"Beautiful night out, Ish." one human said sarcastically, rubbing his eyes. "Care to tell us what the occasion is?"

Before answering, he made sure everyone was around him. Once he had an organized and silent audience, he answered, "I've recently received report from Neonis that there has been something going on in the Space Station." Murmurs of confusion soon circulated in the crowd, and finally someone shouted out,

"What?"

Ish hesitated. "Well, um...I don't know." Silence. "...But...that's what we're here to find out, right?" Except for the occasional drowsy nods, everyone remained silent. Ish let out a sigh, and then turned towards the hallway. He motioned over his shoulder, and everyone followed him into the Spaceship.

They had been walking through the winding narrow passages of the Space Station. Every so often there were certain 'sounds' that individual members described to Ish, who walked in front of everyone. At the time one heard a noise, no one else did. It had seemed like everyone heard something, but at completely different times.

Finally, at a t intersection, a shadow crawled along the ground along the opposing wall. And this time, everyone saw it. Without saying a word, they all stopped dead in their tracks, to come sprinting after what they saw seconds later. The metal vibrated loudly with their hard footsteps, and it felt as if it echoed throughout the entire station. Ish, for a split second, saw the shadow again—and then it disappeared as Ish and his companions ran into a room.

The room was bare, except for a set of touch sensitive screens attached to the wall. Without thinking, Ish walked ahead of the other rebels towards the monitors, and reached out to touch the center one. Immediately, it responded.

:MESSAGE RECEIVED

SEND

SPACESHIP

REBELLION MEMBERS IN MOTION TO BASE

:SEND

Ish backed away, beginning to understand. He slowly turned around, to see the faces of the other rebels. They had only been standing by the doorway—too far away from the monitors--they had not seen what he had. But they had, in fact, now seen something, as their eyes grew wide and one stepped out, mumbling Ish's name, pointing behind him. Then the tribal turned around to view what they had:

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTROJECT ONE BULT SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORTPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET RTPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

PROJECT ONE BULLET SH

PROJECONE BULLET SHORTPROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT

The one statement reappeared countless times until the letters started falling and jumbling. Ish's eyes stared at the screen in horror. The words, the letters, they had no meaning anymore. It was just a jumble of lines and circles. He blinked several times, trying to clear his vision, trying to shake off what he was seeing. But to no avail. And finally, the screen went blank, snapping Ish from the hypnotism he had been caught in. He ran his hand over his forehead and through his hand, somewhat relieved and worn out.

But his relief didn't last long, for there was now a large noise. The entire rebel crowd began backing out of the doorway, next to Ish. "Get your guns..." he mumbled, staring down the hallway they originally came from. Another noise came, like the denting of metal, like something big trying to crush itself through the small metal hallways. The rebels began to murmur in confusion and fear.

"What's going on?!"

"Just shut up and get your gun!"

"I think I forgot my gun—oh there it is, thank god--"

"Ah, it's coming!"

And then the sound echoed through the room that they were in. It was so loud that when Ish tried to order out commands, even he couldn't hear himself. The quake was so incredible that in its own volume, everything was at silence. Seconds before Ish thought his ears were ready to burst, it stopped with such speed that it seemed to pierce everyone and leave them on their knees.

The Tribal's eyes were closed, and his hands jammed on his ears as he lay on his knees in agony. He dared a muffled mutter of anguish and horror as they all lay there, beaten senseless by a mere sound. As Ish slowly opened his eyes, he realized something wasn't right. Everything around him was dimmer, farther away. It was as if he was looking through someone else's eyes and not his own. He turned his head towards one wall and saw a scrawling. It was a cut in the wall that hadn't been there before, and Ish was sure of it.

**PROJECT ONE BULLET SHORT---**

He once again blinked and tried to wipe away what he was seeing. "What...the hell is happening here?!" was one of the hundreds of thoughts flying through his head.

**ISH HELP ME....**

**THE DRONES HAVE THE WEAPON...**

"N-n-neon—nis...?" The words were cutting themselves in the wall viciously.

**STAY AWAY FROM THE DRONES—REPORT TO UNION-----**

"Neonis, what's...what's happening?" he muttered, seeking refuge in the words he saw on the wall. If it was Neonis, then maybe—just maybe...he could work out of this and figure it all out. Maybe.

**THE PROJECT IS DEADLY-- STAY AWAY  
STAY AWA-Y**

**ISH**

**THEY SAY THEY'RE HEADED TO THE PALACE—TELL FLAMES BEFORE ITS TOO LATE—**

Now the wall was filled with letters, so it began to work its way down to the floor Ish was standing on. Meanwhile, the rebels had recovered and were looking at Ish in astonishment.

"What's he doing?"

"Ssssh!"

"Is Ish going mad?"

"I don't see anything, do you?"

"What's happening?"

**HURRY**

With that final word, all Ish could do was stare in amazement. Finally, as if to provoke him to start moving, a slash was cut into the floor less than a foot from where he was. Then he got up, and motioned the others to come to him.

"Ish, what was that?" one tribal stood out.

"Did you see it?"

"See...what?"

"Never mind." he paused. "We're going to stop by the Ichor base, then go to Mizar's Palace." The other Tribal's face itself was a question, but Ish ignored him and walked into the hallway leading outside where they would find their ships. Ish had ignored Neonis's advice to report to the Union...and that decision would decide the end of this war.

**CHAPTER 3: END**


	4. The Palace Ambush

**CHAPTER 4: BEGIN**

Ichor Base, 1:00 PM, Day 5

The ships of the Rebellion slowly drifted onto the surface of Ichor. Along the way, Ish had commanded the remaining rebels to meet him there, so there were other ships already there when they arrived. Ish got out of his vehicle and walked into the underground meeting hall quickly, and faster than nearly all of his companions. He then walked across the circular table and to the head of the room where a board lay.

Soon came the others, filling up the table and standing around it, waiting for Ish's words. The majority of them were Tribals, but there were scattered humans and others.

"Rebels, this is urgent." he said, reaching for a small pen-like object that was held on a sill underneath the board he stood next to. Clutching it in his hand, he wrote the words, "Project One Bullet Short," on the board by merely clicking a button on it and moving the laser it spat out to the board. "This was found on a computer screen in the 'spaceship' an enemy vessel. We received reports of dangerous activity from another, but when we approached there were no signs of life except this." he cleared his throat, and then wrote on the board a list.

'Spaceship'

'The Peak'

'The Palace'

'Spawn ship'

'Rith Essa'

'Eschebone'

'Cerulean'

'55 Anubis'

'Sekhmet'

"These are all the drone bases currently deactivated. Now, the Rebel Neonis and his partner were assigned to deactivate The Peak before moving onto the Spaceship, where they sent a distress call. That means that they **should** have deactivated The Peak first. If I know Neonis, he should have deactivated it like he was told. But by evaluating what little information I've been given, I can tell you it's still running right now."

Quickly murmurs of confusion spread through the audience before him. One person from it bravely called out, "What's that spose'd to mean?"

"It means that these supposedly out-for-the-count strongholds are becoming active somehow. But how?" he asked rhetorically, and then pointed with his hand to what he had written before: 'Project One Bullet Short'. "To this day we have not seen a **single** drone. But we have found out that the Spaceship has power on it, and Neonis has been captured somehow."

"Should we have left the Spaceship when it had power on?" another called out.

"Ah, but you're missing the point. These bases are supposed to be dead. They're—"he let out a sigh, then tried again. "Let's say I shot you in the head. One would assume you were dead, correct?" he earnestly waited for an answer, but the other was a bit too shocked with his choice of analogy to reply. "Well, that's what happened to these bases. They were wiped out. Neonis was only there to check them out, just for safekeeping. I'll have you know that some people have been surgically brought back to life after a shot in the body. But not only did we find out that these places were running, Neonis was taken out while there. No matter what we were to do, it would simply be beyond our control." he paused for a moment, remembering the warning he was given. He dared not to mention it, for only he had seen it, but he hadn't dismissed it. Oh, no, he was going to take it completely seriously.

"Now, this is my idea. If we split up again, there will be unexplained casualties, I can guarantee you that. We must stick together if we want to get to the answer of this. We're going to go to the palace."

"Why there?"

"Because that's where they are."

Unknown Space Vessel, Time Unknown, Day Unknown

Neonis didn't know how long he had been sleeping. For days, he supposed. But he already knew what was going on the second his eyes opened. He knew exactly what had happened to him, and what was going to happen. He just had to make it happen. As his eyes opened, he realized he was in a dark cell with no sign of light. "How can I get outside from this...?" he thought in aggravation. He felt around for a bit and felt the cold cement he was laying on, and how his head lay uncomfortably against its hard surface. He made a low noise close to a growl in aggravation.

"Shine! Shine, you there?" he spoke in the tone of a whisper, although loud enough to be heard from a considerable distance.

"Who's there?"

Neonis nearly jumped at the surprise of the reply, but he knew it wasn't Shine. It was a male voice—possibly human. "Did you see it?"

"See...what?"

Neonis shook his head to himself. Of course he didn't. "I'm Neonis of the Rebellion. And you are...?"

"Ah, the rebellion. I'm Juno."

"From the Gemini Team?!" he said in a loud voice, then gritting his teeth in regret for being so loud.

"Yeah, from the Gemini team."

Neonis's head began to swim. Finally he remembered, "_That's right, the drones attacked the Gemini team._" and his mind grinded to a halt. "How long have you been here?"

"I can't tell. I suppose two or three days, assuming they've been giving me three meals a day." his voice was surprisingly young, Neonis thought at first.

Neonis began looking around the cell as soon as his eyes became suited to the darkness and he could see the cement walls. He would need a way to get out of here if he was going to make everything work out. He clumsily felt for his belt, which had been stripped of anything dangerous. He began to un-strap it, and pulled it from his waist.

He pressed the metal piece down onto the cement floor and scraped it. It let out a grinding squeal that made Neonis winch and hesitate, but after a few tries he managed to make a cut through the cement. "Now to put this to the test..." he thought as he scooted over to a sidewall in the direction Juno had been speaking and began clawing with his belt. He couldn't allow himself to be trapped here for much longer...

Mizar's Palace, 9:00 AM, Day 6

The rebels had spent the night at Ichor, getting ready for the day ahead of them. Ish broke them into squads that would each have a certain job incase they were to run into drones. But Ish had no idea what they were facing at the abandoned castle...

Ish stood at the foot of the crumbled pyramid, waiting for the others to gather. All in all, there were forty or so...drones could outnumber them, but Mizar's typical goon was only armed with a pistol and had no bullet proof clothing, unlike the rebels. The last of the ships began to land as Ish started breathing deeply, realizing the magnitude of what he was doing and what he might be going against.

"All right, rebels." he announced. "This mission is going to be—dangerous, to say the least. We need to scan this building and recover lost rebels. We will probably run into enemy forces here, so you best be prepared." his hand instinctively moved across the smooth metal on his plasma shot gun. "We're going to be investigating the lobby first, then the chasm." he began to walk, and then motioned the rebels. Although he hadn't issued any orders at that moment, they were already following him in their assigned groups.

There were exactly 42 of them, so Ish assigned them to six squads of seven. One squad included him and six others, and were all armed with plasma shot guns. Another with machine guns, one with homing missiles, one with shockers, one with sniper rifles, yet another with flamethrowers, and the final one with pistols. This was so that they all could react to the same situation in seven different ways. Not only that, but each squad had a leader, one equipped with a wrist watch similar to the one Ish wore, so that they could keep in contact in the emergency that they were separated.

They approached the end of the clearing in the middle of the palace, and began walking into the tunnels. They, of course, were roofless, but the walls were high enough that it blocked out a good portion of light. Ish, who stood at the front, was the first to come into a room with a ceiling and see it.

There was slaughter. Blood was everywhere. Green and red blood mingled everywhere in the room. Ish and his comrades let out moans of disgust and horror as soon as they entered. Green blood, that of the drones, was found just as much as red blood, the blood of tribals and humans. Ish had guessed it was Flames and his crew, but the others hadn't been given the mysterious tip, so they wouldn't know better.

But the weirdest thing about this carnage was that it was fresh. Ish knelt down to where green blood was spilled savagely, and hesitantly dipped a finger in it. His finger was soon covered in a thick green goop that made his face let out an expression of disgust. He flicked his finger to the side, allowing the slime to splash off of it. He got back up, still confused. This had taught him nothing but that the message he was given had been correct; Flames was under attack. But when, and what had happened?

His thoughts were once again interrupted by a noise from outside. It was the explosion of a grenade and the squeal of drones. Ish pulled out his gun, and a split second later so had all the others. They moved from the doorway to Ish, once more, and waited what was to come. Another explosion, somewhat closer, caused them stumble. Then the final one that Ish heard sounded right on top of them...but he couldn't see anything.

Ish woke on the cold dirt floor of Mizar's palace. Where he was and what had happened, he didn't know. Instantly he activated his wristwatch and tried to contact the others. To his dismay, only four were operating.

"Sir?"

Ish blinked in surprise.

"Sir?"

"Um, yes," he replied. "What's going on, Rebel?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. The drones were on us only too fast to recount, sir. Then we were all separated. The drones scattered us, and the squads split—it was the best thing to do at the moment—"

"How many were there?"

"I don't know. It happened so fast..."

"How many squads are still operational?"

"After the third explosion, you passed out, sir. The others in your squad carried you off and the rest scattered. There are still two others that I can contact, but I haven't an idea about the others."

"Huh. Then I wonder how I got separated from the others..." Ish thought aloud and into his watch. "A-alright, rebel. Where are you?"

"We're in the dark rooms of the Chasm right now, sir. No casualties as of yet..."

Without saying anything else, Ish deactivated his wristwatch. "Now the drones have the advantage..." he thought. If this entire fleet were to go down, there wasn't much defense left but the union, which would be easy work for them. The Union had no clue what was happening, giving the drones the perfect opportunity to take everything that was left. And in the way they were doing things now, they were probably capable of that. Ish considered a key battle for the fate of the universe, as he knew it.

Ish rubbed the back of his head, brushing dust from his hair. He would need to find another squad before drones found them...or worse yet, found him.

**CHAPTER 4: END**


	5. Shooting in the Dark

**CHAPTER 5: BEGIN**

Mizar's Palace, 9:30 AM, Day 2

Flames shook his head in disbelief at what he had just seen occur. It was so impossible, but it had happened—and things took off so quickly he didn't know what to do.

He was alone, on the ground. His machine gun lay only feet away from him. As his hand came to greet it, he realized with despair that it was already dead. Smoke and fumes drifted out of the front, and it looked trampled. Flames closed his eyes, without hope. The drones would overwhelm them, he thought, in no more than a few seconds...

Robbin crouched against a wall with his missile launcher out. He was low on ammo, he thought for a second. He was surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, he thought for a moment. But mostly his thoughts consisted of him having a gun, and that making the other two thoughts completely meaningless.

Suddenly, a noise entered his ear from over his shoulder. Almost by reflex he spun around and shot what he thought might be an enemy. The wall in front of him blasted open, but all that was seen was flying rock and debris. He tried to reassure himself, but he was still nervous. His hand only gripped the trigger harder as he stood in that aching silence.

He reluctantly put one foot in front of the other, walking through that dark tunnel. His head was reeling from the circumstances—he was feeling sick. His hand struggled to carry his gun, which felt twice its normal weight. His eyes, which were failing him in this light, signified to him that someone was approaching him. He stopped abruptly and stepped back, shocked and frightened. He made effort to raise the gun up to eye level, pointing at the figure. Immediately arms were raised and there was a cry.

"Robbin, it's me!" yelled a familiar voice. Flames walked to him in relief, finding a survivor. "My gun was destroyed," he panted, pulling his loose shirt up waist level to reveal a belt with which a single grenade was attached. "All I have is this." Robbin made a sigh of despair and acted if he was going to say something, but didn't. He was so tired that even speaking was a chore. He simply motioned with his half limp arm and shuffled forward.

After some hundred yards forward and many suspicious sounds, Flames ran forward to meet another. His gun which was a bright yellow-green had been seen long before himself—Ish. Once again they were relieved to have united with each other, but it did not last long. Through the dark tunnels they wandered in was a low silent chatter. Following it was a footstep or two and the clicking of a gun. The three stood there, absolutely quiet. Their ears closed in to the faintest whisper and caught the shadiest of sounds. If one were to even breathe too loud, the other two would motion them to stop.

Then the foe hiding in the darkness took one big step. One lumbering, oaf of a step. The second its miserable feet touched that ground, the mouth of Robbin's gun hurled missiles at it, throwing bug guts across the room. The room flickered with the gruesome explosion for a moment, and then returned to the pitch dark it once was. The three pushed on through the shadows, completely unaware of what they were facing.

"Ish, I must tell you something." Flames began. As Ish looked at him with curiosity filling his eyes, Flames continued. "When we were attacked, the drones..."

"The drones overwhelmed us immensely." Robbin cut in. "It was unnatural. There was way too much drones to have come out of that vessel. As big as it was, it couldn't house as many as we saw."

"Hmm...how are you two still alive? Wouldn't they have killed you?" Ish pointed out.

Robbin looked at Ish, then at Flames, encouraging him to answer. Finally Flames ventured, "Well...that's what we don't get. We were saved by none other than rebel soldiers."

"Rebel soldiers?! Impossible! But we just got here! You would have been dead long before we arrived!"

"Could this have anything to do with the supposedly dead bases?" Robbin turned the subject around.

"Are you sure they were rebels?"

"Yes, Ish. What about the dead bases?"

"There's no connection. Misplaced rebels and regenerated strongholds? You find me something in common and I'll—"

Ish was cut off by a laser shot cutting a drop of red blood off his ear. Immediately he got out his gun and shot, but only to hit the empty void in front of him. There was silence for a moment.

"What was that?!"

"Sssh!"

Robbin hesitated to use his gun. He was already dangerously low on ammo, and to shoot blindly would be pointless. Once again a laser sprang forward, giving Flames a jump as it landed near his feet. Ish once again charged up his plasma shot gun and fired, but the target was nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, they continued walking forward, undeterred. Robbin tripped over what appeared to be the corpse of a tribal, one hand outstretched weakly and the other grasping onto his pistol.

"Shit, this was a squad!" Ish yelled, now firing more into the squad. "They couldn't have taken out the whole damn thing!" he spat with fury.

They walked more and more until they met a wall. Darkness stretched forever to the left and right, but there was still no sign of what they were pursuing. All three of them stood in total confusion and silence, but no more bullets were fired.

"How weird...they stopped shooting." Flames noted. He felt the cold wall in front of him, not trusting his sense of touch until he had ran his hand over it several times.

"But why?" Ish asked rhetorically as he continued on to the first direction that came to mind--the left. Ignoring that question, he moved onto what he considered more important. "This entire squad was destroyed...that can't be good."

"We can only hope the others are more fortunate. Right now things don't seem too good." Flames said. He was running his index over the smooth grenade under his shirt. He had no weapons at all, but he felt much safer when he touched this single explosive...

Flames practically pulled the pin out when Ish suddenly jutted out his arm, motioning them to stop. In the distance could be heard faint gun shots. Not even pistol shots, but shot guns. And that meant part of the rebellion. As they neared the battle site, they could make out figures from the light of constant firing. There were, at least in line of sight, three or four rebels grossly outnumbered by ten drones. Ish leveled his gun, charged, and shot. Instantly one of the drones fell to the ground along with half its brains.

Of course, this attracted attention. Immediately Flames and Robbin scattered, taking cover under areas with little light. It was a wide hallway with the center moderately lighted from gun light. Meanwhile, the way Ish had came and the far side of where he was heading was pitch black. They had the advantage of light and dark, and could use this to their advantage.

Flames, while knowing that the grenade he had was not worth wasting on this occasion, stood in the shadows waiting for some opportunity to attack with whatever means he had left. Robbin, on the opposite side of the dark hallway, was searching for a clean shot with no rebels close to his line of fire. Ish, standing in the middle unprotected, eyed the drones with his shot gun. Another drone fell with a splash of blood by Ish's shell, but it did not go unpunished. A pistol fire went to Ish's general direction. The other rebels took the chance of this distraction to take another drone out.

But the drones got smart to Ish's plan. They immediately ran into the darkness firing their pistols. Not for the unlikely event that they would hit anyone, but for the light. If the drones found Ish, he would be as good as dead. Flames and Robbin would be useless, and the other rebels would be outnumbered and killed with ease. He stood regretting his shots, eyes turning from side to side, looking for an escape.

Squeals came out from the hallway, and the shots lessened. Ish leveled his gun again, and shot into one of the drones. Now the light was dimming and dimming dramatically. Finally, he stood in silence and darkness, a sign of the drones' defeat. He charged up his shot gun, which gave off light. Walking forward, he saw a victorious Flames and Robbin standing over two dead drones with large dents on their forhead. Only a few feet more were other drones which had probably been shot by the rebels.

He let out a sigh of relief and lowered his arms. While light still emanated from his gun, he met the others in the center of the hall.

"That was too close," Flames said, "and in more than one way. If we came here any later—"

"Yes. So much for better luck." Robbin poked at. "I think it's safe to say that the others are in very deep trouble."

"The others in our squad...were killed, I believe. And the wrist watches..." the rebel rose his arm up to the light, revealing the watch completely broken and useless.

"Well, atleast we're together." Ish said, trying to sound optimistic, but failing. "And we need to get ourselves together." He said, letting on a briefing to his plan. "These halls...they weren't normally dark, of course. The light must have been shut down. If that's the case, all of the inside would be dark as well. We have a much better chance of surviving if we get outside, to the light—"

"But how? If we can't see two feet in front of us, we certainly can't find a way out—"a rebel responded.

"But if we can find the mine-cart railings..." Robbin pointed out.

Flames nodded. "Yes, the mine-carts. They were being built for slave labor right on the palace when Mizar was attacked. Then all production ceased...it's only half finished."

"That's what I was getting to. If we can find them, we can sail right through. Along the way, we might even be able to help out some rebels. Then, once we're outside, we'll have much better odds. Who knows. If we can find a working wristwatch, maybe we can even call for help."

"Then it's settled."

**CHAPTER 5: END**

**((Author's note: I know that I haven't updated my story for a long time, and I apologize. I've been really busy away from the keyboard, so that might happen. Anyway, can you guess what's going on yet? Didn't think so. The next chapter or two might reveal some clues to you about what's going on here.))**


	6. Riding the Rails

**CHAPTER 6: BEGIN**

**MIZAR'S PALACE, 11:00 AM, DAY 2**

They had been walking in this dark hallway seemingly forever before they met up with a large pack of drones. Outnumbered nearly three to one, the Tribal leader ordered them to hold their ground and fire back, but it was all useless. In seconds they had been forced to run, and already some rebels had been killed. These drones attacked like none other. The older drones of the Mizar period had mediocre aiming and arsenal, but the foes they were facing now shot like experts. They rarely ever missed, and when they did, it wasn't by much.

Suddenly, however, drones fell to the ground while the rebels' backs were turned. Surely it couldn't be any of them…then who?

"Are you alright?" Ish yelled out, running with his group to the desperate rebels. They had been a squad armed with machine guns…perhaps a poor weapon in this situation.

The machine gun rebels…perhaps seven with them…stopped their pace. "Much thanks for your help. We could have died." One said, extending a hand to Ish.

Robbin, who shoved in front of Ish, shook his hand, "Well, thanks to me you're safe!"

"Robbin, you never even fired your gun."

"And…?"

Flames, ignoring that, "Good. Now we have a decent group of people with us." He motioned behind himself where at least ten or fifteen other rebels stood. "We're heading to the railings to escape these dark tunnels. I strongly advise that you come with."

A male human, about Flame's height stepped up. Raising his arm to show a broken wristwatch, and leadership over the squad, he said, "We shall. We have seen other squads taken over by drones here…they are different from the others. It's odd how they fight."

"Yes, I have noticed that." Ish agreed. "But there is no time for this right now. We have to hurry to the rails before a worse run in occurs."

Robbin had volunteered through his pride to walk in front of everyone else. Although everyone knew he didn't do it for them, it was a good way to get him away from them. Of course, no one protested, and Robbin strode in front, with his near useful gun and his not so useful brain.

So far they had met no more drones, only dead rebels. Ish, who had been through the palace before, knew one secret about finding the rails…through the labyrinth of the dark tunnels, there were two types of hallways, built and organized to make ease for finding the rails. Smaller, narrower tunnels called minor vias, and larger, wider tunnels called major vias. All major vias led to the rails. This was so guards and slaves could find the rails easily if lost.

Unknown vessel, Unknown time, Unknown day 

Neonis was aware that what he was about to do would most likely fail. Still however, he had to try and hope for the best.

He had slowly managed his way out of the cell and slipped out of the dank cells along with the other captive, from the Gemini team. Juno had not quite seen everything that Neonis had, for better or for worse, and there was no time to waste trying to explain something so complicated. Neonis was therefore the one responsible for making a plan to bail them out of such a dilemma—had he the choice, he would have left it in Juno's hands.

They snuck through the fluorescent hallways, which were now deserted of drones. Their weapons had to have been hidden somewhere around somewhere—and without them, nothing could be done. They might, as well have crawled back into their cells if they couldn't find a decent gun. Of course it was a very bad attitude, but a true one nonetheless.

Neonis couldn't tell if Juno was simply this quiet all the time, or if this situation didn't really inspire any friendly chat in him. Neonis finally dismissed it as an unsolved mystery after lots of thought, although he didn't feel the sudden desire to blurt out 'Nice weather we're having today, isn't it' when they were searching for a gun to overthrow a vessel of evil insects who were now threatening the safety of the universe. Mainly because they were in a vessel where there was no weather.

After a great length of searching, they came across a lone machine gun in what appeared to be a lounge room with surprisingly comfortable couches and some vending machines. Apparently a loaded machine gun in a lounge room did not seem odd to either one, who were mostly caught up with what to do with it.

"You need it more than I do, Juno." Neonis said, holding the gun up to Juno.

"I might agree if I knew what I needed it for." Juno said, not needing to ask for an explanation.

"You will be going to The Peak." Said Neonis, without further comment.

"Ookay. And what will be waiting for me at the peak, aside from a wonderful view of air?" Juno asked now, refusing to take the gun with his hands.

"Just do it." Neonis tossed the gun to Juno, who was now forced to catch it or let it fall.

"Yes ma'am!" he mocked, to which Neonis scowled. "Honestly…"

"Juno." He said, catching his attention. "Don't you find it peculiar that there are no drones on patrol here?"

"I guess so." Juno said, now being serious again. "I suppose you know why?"

"I suppose I do. And you don't. Now go to the peak." He said curtly. "I suppose you can steal an unattended and un-patrolled drone ship too." Pointing to the direction of the drone ship yard.

"Whatever." Juno said. He was not trying to be defiant or immature, but was not the person who took orders easily. He was signifying that while he would do what Neonis told him, it didn't mean he was higher up than Juno in any aspect of anything. "I hope you don't mind if I make some stops before the peak," Juno said, as if waiting for a response, "because I'm going to either way." He said before there was any time for a response.

With that, he walked briskly into the hallway away from where Neonis pointed. Sighing, Neonis set off to his own battle.

**MIZAR'S PALACE, 12:30 AM, DAY 2**

They had been walking through the dark chambers of Mizar's palace seemingly forever until there was a clanking noise and someone yelled out in the front.

"Robbin!"

"I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright—" he repeated, his voice coming now suddenly beneath everyone else's. He jumped back up, rubbing his knee. "Some idiot made a big hole in the middle of this hallway!"

"Robbin—" Ish said, now suddenly in a grave tone, "That's not a big hole…that's the mine cart."

"That hole? How can you call that a track?"

"It isn't. It's the mine cart." He repeated himself, not truly expecting Robbin to understand but being absolutely fine with that.

He hopped in, his feet making a band on metal ground. Walking a few steps he felt a wall as high as the point in-between his waist and shoulder. It was a thin wall—that was, wall of the mine cart. The trail and cart were built a few feet underground, and the supposed hole was actually a parked cart.

Now needing the light, he charged up his plasma shot gun, producing enough light for the others to see him inside the cart. A yard in front of that cart was another. "Alright, everyone. Hop in. Machine gun squad, in the front. Everyone else in the back, except Robbin and Flames." He ordered. Soon there was a bit of shuffling around and clanging in and out of carts. After a minute of disorder, there was silence. And more silence. One lone rebel could be heard scooting back and forward, as if trying to push the carts along with his own body movement.

"Ish, sir…" one started, "…how do they work?" Everyone sat dumbly in the darkness.

"These mine carts are run by magnetism in the rails, which are given off through electricity, of course." Ish explained. Once again, there was a moment of silence.

Flames looked up at the nonexistent light, not like anyone could see him. "Ish, there **is** no electricity."

"I am aware of that."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

And finally the mine carts sped forward into the darkness, inspiring rebels human and tribal alike to yell out 'ergh'.

**Author's note: Yes, well, this chapter didn't really give off as many clues as I thought it would. Truth be told, there was absolutely nothing useful in this chapter.** **Oops.**


	7. Peak Encounter

**CHAPTER 7: BEGIN**

**MIZAR'S PALACE, 2:00 PM, DAY 2**

The rebels sped through the dark hallways of Mizar's palace on two mine carts. No one really knew how they were working with the power out, but everyone thought that Ish had some idea. He had led them there, knowing that it ran on electricity and that the electricity was out. Of course, that was always Ish.

It slowly got colder and colder, and if possible, may darker. They had gone underground to where the mines were. There was utter silence except for the occasional rubbing arms together or chattering teeth in the single digit temperature. After some traveling, the temperature rose back to normal and one could finally see his hands in front of him again.

Flames, who was sitting crunched in a cart near Ish, tapped him on the shoulder reluctantly. "Hey, Ish."

"Yes?"

"Aren't these rails supposed to be only half finished or something?"

"Yes, these rails were being built at the time that the Gemini shut down Mizar's empire. Since they never—"

"I know that, I know that," Flames interrupted, "but won't that be a problem for us since we're _riding on_ them?"

There was silence for what Flames assumed Ish was in deep thought. After the pause, he said lightly, "I suppose so."

Flames didn't bother asking again.

**THE PEAK, Unknown Time, Unknown Day**

The peak was really just a planet of empty air with scattered mountains and…you guessed it, peaks. Why this was, no one knew, but no one really cared. Because of its secluded ness, it made as an excellent HQ for discrete operations. As a ship approached the narrow platform surrounded by pure sky, it was forced to park at the back of the building, for one vehicle had already landed at the front.

When Juno hopped out of his drone ship, he realized how odd this was. Was this the reason he had been told to come here? The other transport wasn't like that of a drone, so it wasn't anything related to Mizar. It was very suspicious, but Juno couldn't think of how it would possibly be threat enough for him to come here. Maybe he was supposed to arrive before them, which he failed at doing—his 'stops along the way' turned out to be a bit more difficult than he had predicted. In retrospect, and with a trickle of blood hanging off his gun, it might have been wiser to come here first.

Approaching the one room building from the back, he saw a trapdoor at the ground just a few feet from the back wall. This was attractive since Juno didn't want to use any front passage that might take him straight to the other visitors here. Shooting it open, he leapt into the dark hole underneath to greet a labyrinth built of drones. He was quite familiar with it as he had journeyed here before, but there was something different about it that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Breaking that thought to pieces came nervous footsteps from the right. Turning his head, he saw nothing but a bit of red. It was a tool for bringing light to dark places, although it did its job all too well to the wielder's eyes. Although it was deactivated and was giving off no light, its bright red shell could be recognized through the darkness. If this was a drone, they had a lot of guts to be using something as feeble as an enhanced flashlight.

He clutched his machine gun nonetheless and took a step towards the person in the darkness. That step was one too much for his own good—the person discovered him. There was no noise or movement that could possibly verify this idea, but he could feel it—his presence was known. There was the soft noise of a button being clicked into place, and soon Juno felt his legs jolting his body back into the darkness as light flooded into his eyes at a painful rate. Simultaneously there was a loud yell from its wielder, followed by a rough noise of gravity's cruel power over things with nothing underneath them.

Juno made sure he was completely out of sight before he resumed breathing and blinking. Soft murmurs in the background echoed through his ears, slowly and hauntingly. One of the voices was creepily familiar, but he wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not. Finally they vanished, and he relaxed himself. He crept down the hallway the voices had come from, which led to a ladder sticking straight up into a small room. He put his hand on a cold metal step of the ladder when he heard shots out of a pistol and the sound of electricity being obliterated.

Finally venturing to climb up the ladder, he landed in a small room with a door to his right where he could assume two people were walking away from on the other side. Upon the wall were numerous monitors, cruelly shot again and again. In the darkness however, when Juno thought of turning and leaving, he sensed light flickering behind him. Spinning on his heels, he saw the monitors, with glass cracked and peeling off, bullets in their heads, coming back to life. He raised his two trembling hands that were clasped to his machine gun to the monitors. Then, he waited for what was happening.

SEND

ENEMY REBELS IN MOTION TO SPACE VESSEL

Juno stared at the screen as the grave letters typed slowly across the crooked glass. It was his impression that the power was out and the monitors were dead, but apparently his impression was incorrect—or at least, to an extent.

SEN—

Finally Juno let his sweating fingers bring the trigger to the gun at that letter, not dare letting it finish the word, letting off a few rounds. And the phrase 'a few' implies 'a few for this', 'a few for that', 'a few for good luck', 'a few to grow an inch', and 'a few because I don't like creepy monitors sending weird messages to ominous spectators'. When he thought he was finished, he looked around the room to make sure—not quite aware of what he was making sure of—and finally climbing back into the ladder. So there was more to this place than met the eye.

**MIZAR'S PALACE, 5:00 PM, DAY 2**

Ish ketp to himself the length of the trip, speaking to no one. While everyone by him knew how significant this battle was, they had no idea what was truly going on. And while Ish had been given no more information on the situation than they had, he had a much clearer idea of what was happening.

Through the hours of journeying in the tunnels, light finally entered their eyes. It wasn't much, and in reality things were still very dark, but was a great relief to everyone. They now, while still struggling in the darkness, could manuever better because the light gave a vague outline of surroundings. This was the sign that they were nearing the outside, and murmurs of relief waved through the small crowd. The light brought other news to a certain few, however…

"Ish." Flames nudged at Ish again.

"Eh?"

"It's coming."

"What?"

"You know what. What are we going to do about it?"

"That I do. What is the situation?"

"I've been able to watch the sides of the tracks…and the stakes have stopped."

"The stakes?"

"Yeah, the stakes that hold the railings into the ground. There aren't anymore here…that means that the construction is getting sloppier."

"That's bad."

"Right. I'd guess that in a bit the rails themselves will stop…and then we're done. The carts skid a bit, slam into the walls, fall on their backs. The end."

"You think we can stop it?"

"How's that?"

"Same way we got it to start." Flames didn't know what Ish was talking about, which became apparent by his expression, but Ish could only smirk at that. And then the rails stopped.

Ish commanded the rebels out of the rails and onto their feet, where they were forced to walk through the halls. While the others didn't really notice or care and Ish did not react to it, Flames found a certain dread when he saw the rails not too many paces ahead of where their rails landed. His prediction could have so easily come true had Ish not pulled that magical stunt—which for some reason he insisted to keep a secret from Flames.

The halls got lighter and lighter until finally, the end was near. Light streamed in from the end of the hallway where a giant clearing stood. Ish now led the pack as Robbin dissapeared into the pack—even his enthusiasm had dissapeared at this point. Now, everyone was looking at what Ish was doing, figuring that if there was anyway to get themselves out of this hole it was him.

Ish took the first step into fresh air since—well, who knew since when. When he did, he sprung back into the hallways, stopping everyone else from moving. When he peered out again, so did the others, slowly and cautiously. What they saw was an army of drones, marching throughout the opening as if they had conquered it—and they had. A large vessel stood in the center, much too small to carry them all. Neighboring the vessel was two smaller ships, which everyone seemed to ignore.

"That's it! There's way too many drones for that ship! You see it Ish, right?" Robbin jumped up. However, Ish was not paying attention to Robbin—he was looking down at his shotgun which he had a death grip on. Flames had a similar reaction, reaching around his belt to neuroticly clasp his lone grenade. Everyone seemed to grow tense, realizing what they were about to do.

**CHAPTER 7: END**

Ish was the first to walk into the open. The drones who were facing the opposite direction did not notice him nor the rebels slowly approaching. The walk that gained ground on the drones seemed to take forever in the fearful minds of the rebels. Ish charged his plasma shot gun and leveled it to a drone in the mass.

An explosion disturbed the crowd of marching soldiers, however it did not come from the rebels, who stood confused and innocent not far behind the drones. Their enemies scattered and began shooting back at the attacker, whose identity could not be seen from behind the drones.


End file.
